Growth inhibitory activities of extracts from peels of five species of citrus fruit on bacterial isolates obtained from rotten tomato fruits.

This study was undertaken to verify the efficacies of phytochemical extracts of citrus fruit peels obtained from Citrus sinensis, Citrus reticulata, Citrus limonum, Citrus aurantifolia and Citrus vitis against isolates of tomato rot bacteria. Results of this study provide the much needed less hazardous, cheap and readily available means of controlling or managing bacterial diseases of postharvest tomato fruits to reduce the huge economic losses often incurred by tomato fruits dealers and farmers. Solvent extracts were characterized for presence of constituent active compounds, flavonoids, tannins, terpenes, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinones, saponins and alkaloids. Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella spp. and Escherichia coli were isolated from rotten tomato fruits using McConkey, Blood and Peptone Sucrose agar media. Isolates were subjected to sensitivity test with 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% concentrations (volume by volume) of the different extracts, respectively. All the concentrations showed different degrees of growth inhibition on the test organisms. The study confirmed that phytochemical extracts from peels of citrus fruits are efficacious against tomato fruit rot bacteria and therefore have a good promise for sustainable control of bacterial rot disease of tomato fruits.